Stephanie Apstein: Boston seems like a good fit. President of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski loves a free-agent splash and that lineup finished last in the AL in home runs last year. Jack Dickey: The Diamondbacks would be wise to keep him—he provided a Yoenis-Cespedes-to-the-Mets-in-2015 jolt to their season, slugging .741 in 232 at-bats with Arizona…

Postgame handshakes are usually pretty predictable. There’s the shake itself, maybe a one-armed hug, and a brief exchange of pleasantries. Sean Payton and Dirk Koetter gave us something totally different on Sunday. The Buccaneers beat the Saints in dramatic fashion when Jameis Winston hit Chris Godwin with a touchdown with just nine seconds left to…

The Jaguars are selling an absolutely terrifying meal at their stadium for the Wild Card game. Some misguided soul down in Jacksonville decided it’d be a good idea to let fans sport their team’s color on the inside of their bodies as well as the outside, and I’m a little concerned. Actually, I’m a lot…

The restaurant, Scaletta, owned by the former New York Cosmos player Fred Grgurev, is located on the Upper West Side near the American Museum of Natural History. It serves northern Italian fare and hosts a lot of soccer-related events due to the owner’s relationships and history in the game. Thanks to a mailslot missile from…

The NHL’s holiday roster freeze is spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement and traces its origins to the 1992 strike that was largely about playoff bonuses and free agency. A memorandum of understanding signed in 1993 included reference to a Dec. 19-27 roster freeze for trades and waiver. The wording was put into the…

Brilliant play design by the Panthers in Detroit, and great orchestration by Cam Newton, to fake the read-option and shovel-pass the ball inside to Christian McCaffrey, his first touchdown of his NFL career. DeShone Kizer leaves the pocket too soon. He’s got to calm down, hang in and give his receivers a slightly longer chance…

There’s no name for the designation, which is invented (just now) and arbitrary. But consider it something like Major League Soccer’s version of the EGOT. Great players typically seek team titles, along with the recognition of their individual talent and contribution. And then there’s the transcendent part, which is a lot more elusive. There’s a…

Last week’s “Thursday Night Football” matchup in Atlanta had a direct impact on the NFL playoff picture. Broncos vs. Colts in Week 15? Not so much. Both Denver and Indianapolis are eliminated from postseason contention, and while team execs might already have their eyes on the 2018 NFL Draft, the players on the field Thursday…

Tampa Bay kept up the flurry at 7:53 when Kucherov buried a wrist shot from the slot. Just short of a minute later, Conacher unloaded a one-timer from the left circle that beat Korpisalo. “They smelled blood, let’s be honest,” said Foligno, the Columbus captain. “We didn’t do anything right in those 10, 12 minutes….

Brett Howden scored twice and Canada rebounded from a snowy loss to the United States to beat Denmark 8-0 on Saturday night and win Group A in the world junior hockey championship. Also in Group B, the Czech Republic beat Belarus 6-5 at Key Center to improve to 2-1. Radovan Pavlik scored twice for the…